Joshua Handover had it all. He was handsome, rich, athletic, and
had always been popular with the ladies. Yet, until he gets paired up with his
beautiful but shy lab partner, Rosa, he never allowed himself to fall in love.

As the chemistry between them grows, Josh realizes that his player
days have come to end. But it seems his change of heart has come too late. Not
only is Rosa leery of his bad boy reputation, he has
four vindictive ex-girlfriends who are on a rampage. At first he doesn’t take
their threats seriously, but then his tires are slashed, someone tries to
poison him, and one of the girls turns up dead. Josh doesn’t know who to trust,
but one thing is certain. It definitely isn’t worth the price he’s paying to be
a player.

Teaser Excerpt:

Josh
was trying to be enthusiastic, despite the fact that his stomach and his head
were killing him. In fact, he was so busy offering Rosa his congratulations on her expert
pinball skills that he didn’t see that an angry girl with wild strawberry curls
had just stormed into the arcade. Her hazel eyes were flashing underneath
layers of thick black eye makeup. Josh didn’t notice her long, leather-clad
legs carrying her across the crowded game room. He didn’t even notice when she
was standing directly behind him with her pierced lips set in a tight frown.
Josh didn’t realize she was there at all, until she roughly tapped him on the
shoulder. When he finally turned around, he found himself face to face with a
furious gothic beauty.

“Jazz!”
Josh exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

With a
cry of pure animal rage, Jasmine lifted a hand covered in silver rings and
slapped Josh hard across the face. Black fingernails as sharp as talons scraped
his skin, leaving behind a small trail of blood. He wasn’t ready for the
surprise attack, and his neck snapped back painfully, sending fresh waves of
agony through his already pounding head.

“Pig!”
Jasmine screamed so loudly that several arcade patrons glanced over their
shoulders to see what was happening. “Surprised to see me? Not as I surprised
as I was when I ran into my old friend Elena a few days ago. We hadn’t seen
each other for a few months, and we got to talking about school, and life, and
boyfriends. You can’t imagine how surprised I was to find out that we both had
the very same boyfriend!”

“Jazz,
I. . . .” Josh was so surprised that he could barely stutter a reply. At the
same time, his aching stomach was making it difficult for him to care. More
than anything, he really just wished she would go away, taking the gawking
spectators with her.

“But I
still had an even bigger surprise in store for me!” Jasmine went on, crossing
her arms over her black tank top. “Last night, Elena called and told me that we
weren’t your only two victims. You had two more, four girls in all! Is this one
of them?” she asked, gesturing to Rosa
whose mouth was hanging open. “Or is she a fifth?”

“Jazz,
listen to me,” Josh started to protest. “I never. . . .”

“Don’t
tell me you never said we were exclusive, like you tried to pull with Elena!”
Jasmine interrupted. “That’s a load of crap and you know it. Don’t think I’m
going to let you dump me either. This time I’m the dumper and you’re the
dumpee. It’s over between us, Josh. And if I have my way, you won’t be getting
laid again until your college years. When I’m through with you, no girl in this
county will come within a hundred yards of you.” She turned to Rosa, her face still flushed with fury. “Let
me give you a little free advice, hon. Ditch this jerk before he ditches you.
He’s a dog, plain and simple.”

With
that, Jasmine turned on her heel and stormed away, her head raised high in
victory. Josh watched her go with a mixture of shock and horror. It had all
happened so fast, he thought maybe he had imagined the whole thing. But his
cheek was still stinging where Jasmine had scratched him, and if that wasn’t
proof enough that the encounter had been real, the look on Rosa’s face certainly was. Gone were the
sweet smile and the slight flirtatious blush to her cheeks, replaced by a
trembling lower lip and watery brown eyes. Her fingers were still gripping the
sides of the pinball machine though the balls had long since vanished.

“Rosa,” Josh said desperately. “Please let me
explain.”

“I
can’t believe what an idiot I’ve been!” Rosa said in a harsh whisper. The arcade
patrons had finally turned away, and she obviously had no interest in capturing
their attention a second time. “I can’t believe I ever trusted you! To think,
for a little while there, I actually fooled myself into believing you cared
about me. I’m so stupid.”

Josh
hated himself when he saw one tear sneak free. He wanted to reach out to
comfort her, but he was starting to feel dangerously shaky. He knew that if he let go of the video game
that was supporting his weight, he would probably hit the ground. The room
started to spin, and it seemed a lot smaller and stuffier. It was getting
harder to breath, and his stomach was hurting so badly, he could barely stand
up straight. He knew something was
really wrong with him, but he didn’t care. He only wanted to convince the girl
he was in love with that he wasn’t a player. Not anymore. He had changed. She
had changed him.

“Rosa,
I . . . I do care about you,” Josh managed to stutter, even though it felt like
his throat was closing up.

“Oh
yeah, I just bet you do!” she replied sarcastically. “Just as much as you cared
about all those other girls you were messing around with? You need one of
everything, huh? The cheerleader. The goth. And now the nerd?”

Josh
couldn’t even speak to defend himself. The pain was making it hard for him to
think clearly, and Rosa wasn’t waiting anyway. She shook her
head in disgust and moved to take the same path out of the game room that
Jasmine had taken. Josh forced his arm to move.
He tried to grab hold of her hand, but she tore away so violently that
he nearly stumbled backward into the wall.

“Don’t
touch me!” She spat.

He was
so dizzy that he was seeing two of her at once, but somehow Josh managed to
form a coherent sentence. “Rosa, please! Give me a chance to . . . to
explain.”

“I only
promised you one chance,” Rosa told him. “And you blew it!”

She
headed toward the exit again, and this time Josh didn’t have the strength to
stop her. In fact, he didn’t even have the strength to stand anymore. His legs
started to wobble underneath him just as the pain in his stomach reached an
unbearable crescendo. Even as his knees hit the dingy carpet of the game room,
he clutched desperately at his stomach. His throat was so constricted he
couldn’t even cry out for help. After only a few seconds, he vaguely noticed
that concerned people were starting to surround him. The faces were swimming
and blurring into one as waves of dizziness washed over him.

“Are
you all right, kid?”

“Someone
call 911.”

Josh
heard the anxious voices around him, but he couldn’t answer. He could barely
breathe. He wheezed as he tried to force air into his rebellious lungs.

“Josh?
What’s wrong? Josh, answer me!”

Josh
immediately recognized Rosa’s voice. He was grateful when he felt
her arms wrap around him. She cradled his head against her chest, and he felt
her delicate hands smooth his hair out of his eyes. He wanted to say something.
He wanted to thank her for coming back, even if it was only out of pity. But
speech was impossible, and consciousness was slipping away as the pain became
more and more unbearable. Even through the agony, Josh noticed that there was
another familiar face watching him from the crowd of curious onlookers. She was
impossible to miss, draped in black and covered in silver. The last thing Josh
saw before he finally lost his battle with awareness were Jasmine’s black lips
curled into a wicked, satisfied smile.

About the Author:

Laura “Luna” DeLuca lives at the beautiful Jersey shore with her husband
and four children. She loves writing in the young adult genre because it keeps
her young at heart. In addition to writing fiction, Laura is also the sole
author of a popular review blog called New Age Mama. She is an active member of
her local pagan community, and has been studying Wicca for close to eight
years. Her current works include Destiny, Destiny Unveiled, Phantom,
Morrigan, Player, and Demon.

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